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DESTROYING DISCOVERY: The latest on the Tardigrades copyright lawsuit against CBS and Netflix. The game developer suing over Star Trek: Discovery wants all the profits and every copy destroyed, and a federal judge approves a 30-day extension for the networks to respond to the suit. Read more »

OPEN RECORDS CLOSED TO CRITICS Responding to continued calls for accountability, OWC Studios head Alec Peters says only Axanar supporters get to examine the ill-fated fan film’s financial records as part of Axacon — but only for two hours. Meanwhile, critics will continue to be shut out, despite offers to pay for an independent audit. Also, read the advice Peters has gotten about how to silence critics. Read more »

ANOTHER LAWSUIT OWC Studios head and Axanar producer Alec Peters is being sued for defamation by a Las Vegas prop dealer after he threatened legal action over the disputed sale of the Enterprise-E model. The suit seeks at least $15,000 in damages after Peters allegedly threatened the company for a commission he says he’s owed. Read more »

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Primers

Overview

PRIMERS
On AxaMonitor, we organize information about Axanar Productions, its film, business and lawsuit in a series of topical primers. Click the tabs above to see how we’ve packaged our articles for you, or check our FAQ for the quickest overview we offer. || On Twitter follow @AxaMonitor

The archive is maintained by the Language Creation Society, which filed an amicus brief with the defense contesting the plaintiffs’ claim of copyright of the Klingon language.

Copyright

COPYRIGHT PRIMERThe Axanar lawsuit is either David vs. Goliath, or a battle over control of Star Trek, or fans trying to express their love for a treasured legend, or soulless corporate greed threatened by plucky creatives, or amateurs using intellectual property they don’t own to finance a foothold in the film industry. But undisputedly, the case rests on whether Axanar engaged in copyright infringement, an often misunderstood aspect of intellectual property law. Our backgrounders explain what’s at stake legally in this case and why.

FANS SHUT DOWN Why did CBS issue a cease-and-desist letter to Stage 9, a fan-produced re-creation of the Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation? A guest analysis by Treksphere offers possible answers, as well as an explanation from the project’s leader, Rob Bryan. Read more » (Filed 9/29/18)

TICKETS SLASHED Faced with Axanar fans’ ticket price complaints, sluggish sales and thousands of dollars in losses, OWC Studios head Alec Peters announced a 40-percent cut in Axacon’s cost of entry in November, the brunt of which hurts proceeds intended for the event’s host, SphinxCon. Meanwhile, Peters can’t commit to whether the bridge set he’s spending thousands more to complete in time for the con will even appear in Axanar Lite. Read more » (Updated 9/26/18)

ROCKY START CBS has been sued by an indie videogame developer who alleges Star Trek: Discovery “willfully and maliciously” stole key features of his videogame, including a space-hopping tardigrade. Read more » (Filed 8/22/18)

RED CARPET PREMIERE? AxaMonitor fact-checks Alec Peters’ August 2018 production update. Fans hoping to see the two short films comprising what’s left of Axanar may not have much longer to wait, if Peters’ Comic-Con 2019 target is to be believed: But his proposed shooting schedule comes with a number of caveats. Read more » (Filed 8/21/18)

UPDATEDA STEEP HILL Progress in the $25,000 GoFundMe campaign to raise money for legal expenses in the Dr. Seuss-Star Trek copyright and trademark suit has slowed significantly in its two months. Seuss Enterprises is suing ComicMix and Trek writer/Axanar supporter David Gerrold. Read more » (Filed 6/22/18)

DÉJÀ VU all over again? An ambitious new Star Wars fan film makes an Axanar-like Kickstarter pitch, leading some fans to see disturbing parallels, including how the two projects eschewed the Fan Film label in their crowdfunding appeals. Has the Axanar lawsuit affected donors’ willingness to fund such efforts? Read more » (Filed 7/8/18 )

FAMILIAR AXA-NAMES are among the corporate officers and business partners of The Federal Coffee House outside Atlanta, including the creator of the ill-fated Axanar Coffee. How might OWC Studios head Alec Peters be connected to this new company? Read more » (Filed 7/8/18 )

ASKING FOR TROUBLE? Kickstarter campaign launches for a nearly 200-page, fan-published ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ book. In the wake of the Axanar lawsuit, fans wonder if CBS will clamp down on this publishing project. Read more » (Filed 7/7/18)

LACK OF SUPPORT Just as in Axanar’s failed 2017 Indiegogo campaign to save its beleaguered studio, a poll of its staunchest fans reveals little desire for a monthly subscription to pay for Axanar Lite’s production. Read more » (Filed 6/21/18)

AXACON LIVES Axanar plans to piggyback its fan convention atop the non-Trek related SphinxCon in Atlanta in November 2018, scrambling to get its unfinished bridge set ready in time. Read more » (Filed 6/19/18)

SKIN IN THE GAME A reader wonders about the motivation behind AxaMonitor. Editor Carlos Pedraza answers the criticism, providing an overview of Axanar’s lack of accountability and its treatment of now-former supporters who questioned OWC Studios head Alec Peters’ narrative justifying why $1.7 million later Axanar has yet to be made. Read more » (Filed 5/2/18)

THIRTY DAYS OUTAxanar was famously purported only a month out from production before the CBS/Paramount copyright lawsuit hit. The dubiousness of the claim was first recorded in OWC Studios head Alec Peters’ infamous interview with the TrekZone Spotlight two years ago. Watch this two-year retrospective by AxaMonitor and TrekZone. Watch now » (Filed 4/27/18)

CBS RELENTS, allowing fan production Temporal Anomaly to be released in three parts later this year. The movie’s original trailer had at least four instances where producer Samuel Cockings failed to follow CBS’ fan film guidelines. Read more » (Filed 3/31/18)

THE STATE OF AXANAR At a recent con, OWC Studios head Alec Peters stated Prelude to Axanar proved the Hollywood model is broken. Our story fact-checks that and other claims, along with production news for Axanar Lite. Read more » (Filed 3/5/18)

LAWSUIT FOREWARNING Though Axanar has pushed a narrative in which CBS and Paramount’s copyright infringement lawsuit came as a complete surprise, in fact producer Alec Peters had met with CBS officials just prior to CBS’ public statement, issued four months before the suit, warning him of possible legal action. Read more » (Filed 3/31/18)

AWARDS FACTORIES OWC Studios head Alec Peters lambasted other filmmakers for touting their movies’ awards but AxaMonitor‘s analysis of the 47 awards Peters has boasted about for years shows as many as 42 percent of the “festivals” that conferred honors on Prelude to Axanar appeared to be in the business of selling awards. Read more » (Filed 2/5/18)

BIGGEST STORIES What are AxaMonitor’s top Axanar stories from 2017? A year after the copyright infringement lawsuit was settled, Axanar was still making news. We count down the past year’s Top 10 stories. Read more » (Filed 1/1/18)

ROSY PICTURE OWC Studios head Alec Peters sent donors an update describing healthy progress toward making the Axanar short films allowed under the CBS-Paramount lawsuit settlement, gliding over the production’s personnel and financial obstacles. A fact-check of Peters’ claims shows otherwise. Read more » (Filed 12/13/17)

PATTERN OF DECEIT? Bill Hunt (right), co-writer of the never-to-be-produced Axanar feature went public with his resignation in November right after its director did, but he actually left the project in July — news Alec Peters kept from donors. It’s something Peters did before with actor Tony Todd’s departure. Read more » (Filed 11/3/17)

TWO DOWN Director Robert Meyer Burnett has resigned from the Axanar film, bringing to an end another chapter in the beleaguered project, leaving it apparently rudderless. Read more » (Filed 11/2/17)

NEW FAN EDIT of Prelude to Axanar has been released by a pseudonymous editor. The first version was taken down by OWC Studios head Alec Peters, who is completely eliminated from the new edit, which also features new visual and sound effects. Read more » (Filed 11/3/17)

MERCHANDISE PULLED Axanar merchandise, including the Prelude to Axanar soundtrack and a variety of patches, suddenly went ‘Out of Stock’ after a report the online seller appeared to have doctored a promotional image. The Author, Author! website scrubbed nearly every reference to Axanar from its product catalog. Read more » (Filed 11/02/17)

HUNDREDS ABANDON Facebook fan groups controlled by OWC Studios head Alec Peters after he posts unsupported and possibly defamatory allegations of stalking and sexual harassment by an Axanar critic. The accusations came a day after AxaMonitor‘s story about Axanar merchandise sales. Read more » (Filed 10/31/17)

ACTOR’S IMAGE USED TO MOVE MERCH Star Trek actor Tony Todd, who left Axanar citing problems with its financial accountability and repeated production delays, complained about a Dragon*Con fan table selling merchandise using his image that could only have come from Alec Peters. Read more » (Filed 9/2/17)

NONPROFIT NO MORE Axanar abandons its effort to become a charitable organization, and its spokesman admits it could “take years” before supporters ever see the promised two, 15-minute Axanar episodes permitted by the lawsuit settlement. Read more » (Filed 9/1/17)

FAN FILM ACADEMY CBS grants New Voyages’ James Cawley a license to operate a training school for people to make Star Trek fan films on his Original Series sets, an unprecedented move that broadens legitimate usage by fans of Star Trek’s copyrighted property. Read more » (Filed 8/5/17)

CAST A PALL ‘Prelude’ actors cast doubt on Alec Peters’ legal threats over blooper reel. And Peters may have lost actor Gary Graham, who reportedly said he now wants to “stay well clear” of Axanar after it threatened the credibility of his career. Read more » (Filed 7/20/17)

AXANAR SCRIPT LEAKED After producer Alec Peters attacked him on Facebook, Axanar’s former chief technologist retaliated by posting a copy of the script that led to the copyright lawsuit. Then the Internet reacted. Read more » (Filed 6/28/17)

CORRECTION AxaMonitor corrects its report on the location of Axanar’s new headquarters, as CEO Alec Peters prepared to leave the unused California studio into which he had poured three-quarters of a million dollars of fans’ money. ALSO: An editorial about being fooled by Peters’ falsehoods. Read more » (Filed 4/26/17)

PULLING UP STAKES Axanar CEO Alec Peters announces he’s moving operations to a new “studio” near Atlanta, his former base of operations. Also, what does the move portend for its nonprofit goals and effort to secure a federal tax exemption? Read more » (Filed 4/18/17)

EXPLORING AXANAR AxaMonitor presents its analysis of Axanar’s recent donor memo, financial report and new Indiegogo campaign in the form of a kids’ book, “Think of the Children.” A Starfleet cadet and his commanding officer go on an adventure to learn about Axanar. Read more » (Updated 3/22/17)

UNSOUND STAGE A close look at the long-delayed and thin so-called independent report on Axanar’s finances. Also: What’s behind the delayed crowdfunding launch on behalf of Axanar’s soundstage — which turns out to not even be soundproofed. Read more » (Filed 3/9/17)

ACCOUNTING FOR AXANAR On the eve of the release of Axanar’s long-delayed so-called financial review, insider accounts shine a spotlight on a growing number of questions about producer Alec Peters’ management and financial practices. Read more » (Filed 3/6/17)

WILL THE TAKEDOWN HOLD UP? In the wake of its own copyright infringement troubles, Axanar ironically claims copyright protection against the fan edit of Prelude to Axanar. An AxaMonitor analysis of the YouTube takedown of Prelude: Redux. Read more » (Filed 2/18/17)

SETTLEMENT AFTERMATH Many loose threads remain in the aftermath of the settlement of Axanar’s copyright lawsuit, including whether producer Alec Peters admitted he ran afoul of copyright law and if its director would stay on. Read more » (Filed 1/26/17)

PETERS’ INEXPERIENCE as a film producer caused constant behind-the-scenes trouble in the development of Axanar, co-writer Bill Hunt said in a deposition submitted as evidence in the upcoming copyright infringement trial. Read more » (Filed 1/20/17)